SUNDOWN 12, FARWELL 0

Sundown defense stops Steers 12-0

Published: Saturday, October 16, 1999

CHAD CONINEA-J Correspondent

SUNDOWN Sundown head coach Benny Granger told his team going into its District 4-2A matchup Friday with defending league champion Farwell that, if the Roughneck offense could score, the defense would hold the Steers out of the end zone.

Granger proved to be a prophet as Sundown defeated Farwell 12-0.

Clay Edwards got the Roughnecks on the scoreboard on their first offensive series.

Sundown began its first drive in Farwell territory at the 45-yard line after an Edwards interception. Daniel Salazar ran four times for 14 yards, setting up another key play by Edwards, who finished the night with 99 yards on nine attempts.

On third-and-one, Edwards ran straight ahead on a quarterback keeper, broke into the open field and srambled 26 yards for the touchdown.

Three turnovers in the first half kept Farwell from pulling even, and Sundown took its 6-0 lead to intermission. The Steers moved inside the Sundown 20 midway through the second quarter, but Sundown free safety Cory Bownds stopped the drive when he recovered a Thomas Ortiz fumble at the 16.

Sundown opened the second half by going 57 yards, all on the ground, and scored a touchdown for a 12-0 lead. Edwards keyed the drive when he ran around the right side of his line, cut back to the middle of the field and ran 34 yards before he was brought down at the Farwell 9.

Salazar capped the drive by slashing through the right side of the line from the 6 and diving across the goal line.

With a 12-point lead and more than six minutes to play, Farwell had its best scoring chance on fourth-and-goal at the Sundown one. Farwell fullback Clint Corn took the handoff and started to lunge through the right side of his offensive line, but Miguel Salazar stood him straight up and the

Roughneck defense swarmed Corn at the 3-yard line.

"We were all real scared," Salazar said. "They were about to score and maybe get an onside kick and win the game. We had to buckle down and stop them."

In the second half, Farwell drove inside the Sundown 10 three times.

Early in the third quarter, Roughneck defensive linemen Juan Rodriguez and Joe Quintana sacked Farwell quarterback Tyler Chadwick at the 13 on a third-down play that started at the Sundown 8. On fourth down, Chadwick was driven out of bounds inches short of a first down by a host of Roughnecks.

Near the end of the third quarter, Farwell got to the Sundown 2 on a 15-yard pass from Chadwick to Jourdan Nichols. After an incomplete pass, the Sundown defense forced Chadwick to lose yards on two consecutive plays, setting up a fourth-and-goal from the 7. Chadwick completed a screen pass to Kolby Kimbrough, but Randy Snead made a touchdown saving tackle at the 4.